Of course riding a motorcycle is dangerous, especially here in SoCal where there are TONS of people driving around like idiots, but there's no doubt wearing a helmet is a smart thing to do. Even a seemingly minor spill could cause a serious head injury and not much else. I'm all about the right to choose then deal with potential consequences but you can't say wearing a helmet doesn't matter. Several years ago I low-sided on a canyon road (Turnbull Canyon in Whittier, CA) and I slid on my *** backwards and my head hit the guardrail; luckily I was able to walk away without injury. What would have happened if I hadn't been wearing a lid? There are TONS of people that YOU DON'T SEE often in public because they are mentally disabled, depressed, and don't want to be seen in public. Many injuries you can recover from and still live a pretty normal life - but seldom can you come back from a head injury after a motorcycle crash - especially if your job requires you to use your brain. I drive 18-wheelers that can weigh up to 40 tons (equal to about 27 3,000 lb. cars) in CA, and while it isn't rocket science, you have to be able to use proper judgement for clearance and speed, multi-task to operate the truck, and memorize rules and regs set by the DOT, FMCSA, and CHP, etc. So, a brain injury would certainly cause you plenty of grief in such a job. You want to look cool and "feel free" while riding - good for you - I don't feel the risk is worth it. I should really wear MORE gear myself but I'll always wear a helmet regardless of what state I reside in. Plus, with all of the carbon fiber and other material advancements in recent times you can get a really comfortable/low-pro helmet that protects your head very well. Hell, even a shitty helmet is better than no helmet at all.

 

I don't look at what happens in a get off. I look at the odds of getting in a wreck in the first place and thats why I choose not to wear the gear.

Odds change depending on the Experience,rider's choices. Night riding?,Riding drunk? Urban riding? Hot Dog riding? Twisty riding? Speed riding, type of bike. (too big to handle correctly?) To fast to handle correctly? Distraction with tech? High mile riding? 40% single rider oopsies. Group riding. ALL of thee causals are RIDER CONTROLLABLE. In fact I believe 99% of all motorcycle wrecks could have been prevented by the rider even if it was not the rider's legal fault...Animals strikes are such a low percentage they are not worth mentioning and they can be controlled by when and where one rides.

Everyone of those can and do cause wrecks. I take 6,000,000 registered licenced riders a year and have read the fatalities are about 4600.... (Thats negligent) Reported Injurious Get offs are 100K riders

Looking at those causes AND the odds of less than 2% of even having a get off and far less than that of being a fatality. Now with each causal item I listed , if I do not do any of them, my chances go waaaaaaay down.

I don't ride drunk, I have no daily commute, I do not live in an urban area, I do not group ride or go on rides to nowhere, I do not go to places like Deals Gap, I am experienced and ride a bike I can handle in all situations and sold the bikes I did not feel that safe on. BAsed on my riding tendencies I am highly unlikely to ever need any safety gear and never have in 40+ years. I rode sans helmet inn California until 92 when they changed the law and I moved.

Now twice a year there are over 300K partying motorcycle riders hitting Myrtle beach. VERY few wear lids. Injuries are few Fatalities are none or extremely low and usually the fault of the rider. You have a higher chance of getting shot than having a get off..LOL

That is why I don't wear the gear (except in Winter for warmth) I hate dressing for a ride. I am already dressed and just go Shorts sneakers,Camp Shirt..That's riding for me. I hate wearing any kind of jacket in 80+ weather or booths and gloves and especially a fish bowl on my noggin which takes the entire reason I ride away from me/ May as well take the MX5 if I need to be surrounded with hard protection

 

I always hear a lot of reasoning along the lines of "it takes away from the riding experience" if I wear a ff helmet. I get that, to each his own, if you like not wearing one and you can, then great. You shouldn't be forced too.


For me, a ff adds to the riding experience. I just plain don't like getting clocked in the face with pea gravel flying out of an 18 wheeler's trailer tire. Or taking a june bug in the face at 75mph, or being sandblasted in the face from all the sand leftover from the winter. I ride a lot of interstate. I've been hit with all manner of debris, in the face, at speed. I've ridden with my Akoury in those conditions and it just plain sucks. I came back from a ride last week and my FF was covered with bugs, I mean covered, and this was backroads. For me, taking that on the face doesn't add to the riding experience.
I can't count how many times the windshield on my car has been cracked from a flying rock over the years. I got a nice chip in my ff visor on my last helmet right between the eyes. Would it add to my riding experience if I were to take that to the tooth, eye, or forehead? I don't know, I'm thinking not.


If I were granted a wish and told I would never ever have an accident where a helmet would be needed, I'd still wear a FF simply for protection from flying debris. I rarely if ever see that reasoning, it's all about accidents and survival rates, etc etc. That's just a side issue for me honestly.

 

Well that said, I NEVER would own a bike without a windshield....That takes care of the flying stuff. I see over it about 2" Upside is no arm fatigue or wind blast noise.

 

Have none of you driven a car on the highway? Ever?

Have none of you taken a rock from a truck tire straight into the windshield of a car at 70 mph?

It's like a ***king bullet against the glass. Sometimes the windshield breaks. How thick is a car windshield?

If you take a rock in the eye at 70 mph, I don't care if your sunglasses are frikkin' Oakleys, you're going down. And when they dig the rock and the pieces of shattered sunglasses out of your eye, it will take a while to heal enough for the glass eye to go in the hole.

I took a bird in the middle of my bubble shield (no full coverage helmets in the mid-60's ) at around 65 mph. It spun my head around so hard my neck was sore for a week. Not to mention the blood and guts.

I've never left the driveway without a helmet since. Ever.

But, I'm not your mommy, and you can do whatever you want.

 

Die thread die!!!!!

 

When we get into the world of "IFS" I think it would be time to hang up riding a motorcycle altogether and just stay home wrapped in a blankee. What if an oncoming car turns into your lane and hits you head on.......Dead....as good an if as any

I already made the decision I could die or get hurt really really bad just by making the choice to ride a motorcycle. The idea is not to minimize injury...its not to be in a situation where you can be injured by actions you are in total control over and putting the lightning strike and bad lotto events and extreme low probability events away for another day and enjoy the breeze on the skin

 

How is this done? You responded to a member that hit a bird, how can that be avoided? Ride where there are no birds?

My experience happened on a two lane street bounded by open desert, the first 5 feet or so was soft blow sand. I was traveling north, and traveling south was a pickup truck with a metal rack built over it's bed. On top of this rack were several 6 foot long fence planks that weren't tied down. Just as we were about to pass, one of the fence planks lifted up and floated into my lane. I barely had time to lower my head so the plank would hit the top of my 3/4 helmet, rather then my face.

Sometimes bad, low probability events, happen. These are times when it is nice to "minimize injury".

 

You cannot always control your environment - especially the actions of others. There are plenty of people out there who would still be leading very normal lives had they been wearing a helmet.

And there are many accidents where a car turns in front of a motorcycle and the rider survives. Look at all of the accident compilations on YouTube and you'll see that most people SURVIVE the accidents despite the speeds and craziness of the accident. The ones who don't weren't wearing a helmet or just got hit much too hard.

 

Don't confuse me with facts, my minds made up